


Ring and I'll Come Running

by SawamurafortheSoul



Series: Brother's can make good Dad's [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Damian Wayne Loves Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson is Damian Wayne’s Parent, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23765701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SawamurafortheSoul/pseuds/SawamurafortheSoul
Summary: Dick gets a phone call about an incident at Damian's SchoolEdit 03/12/2020 - Story has been edited for clarity - no changes to the story
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: Brother's can make good Dad's [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1712080
Comments: 7
Kudos: 437





	Ring and I'll Come Running

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ReadingAllNight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadingAllNight/gifts).



> I am Australian so my spelling might be different and I also don't really know what the disciplinary system is like in American schools so I based it off the way my high school would treat the incident.  
> Also I hope you enjoy it!

It was just another day in the life of detective Dick Grayson, he was going over a case file for a hit and run accident that occurred the day before. The poor lady hit was released this morning from hospital following a concussion, broken arm, and some gravel rash. He needed to do a follow-up with her to see if she was going forward with pressing charges against the driver, that is after they find out who the driver is.

  
He has a vague idea as there had been a series of hit and runs in the last couple of weeks, but then again this was Bludhaven and crime has pretty much encased the city since it had been founded. But it would be nice if he had a day where he wasn’t looking at case after case of petty theft, gang violence, and unfortunately murder and suicide.

  
Fortunately, enough it was his lunch break and he had some chicken and salad leftover from his dinner the previous night and an almond croissant he picked up from this bakery ran by this nice old Vietnamese couple waiting for him in the communal fridge. 

  
He turned off his computer and took his very empty mug of coffee over to the kitchen where he proceeded to rinse out the cup and pour himself a new one before going to the fridge and retrieving his food. He then proceeded to bring his coffee and food back to his desk, he pulled out his phone and connected his headphones. Listening to a true-crime podcast as he ate his lunch until the voice of the host was suddenly replaced by the sound of his phone's default ringtone.  
Scrambling to pull out his headphones he answered the call.

  
“Hello Dick Grayson speaking,” he spoke.

  
“Hi, yes Mr. Grayson this Damian’s teacher Miss Martinez speaking, how are you?” A cheery, young sounding feminine voice spoke.

  
“I’m good thank you, how are you? Why are you calling me instead of our Father?” he asked her confusion evident in his tone.

  
“Mr. Grayson you are still registered as Damian’s guardian if you would like to change it to your Father, I will need the both of you to come to the school’s admin office to sort that out. But the purpose of this call is to inform you that Damian has had a physical altercation with another student and Deputy Principal believes the best course of action in regards to his behavior will be to externally suspend him for three days. Would you be available to discuss this with the deputy and me tomorrow morning?” she said to him.

  
Taking a moment to process this information “Will ten-thirty be alright for the both of you? I live in Bludhaven.” He replied.

  
“Yes, that’s fine Mr. Grayson, for the remainder of the day Damian will be doing completing his school work in a room next to the deputy’s office away from other students.” She said the confusion evident in her voice, probably the thing about him not living in Gotham.

  
“That’ll be wonderful, thank you I will see you tomorrow.” He said hanging up the call.

  
He quickly finished the rest of his lunch before taking his dishes back to the kitchen to quickly wash up before diving back into work. A million thoughts raced around his head.

  
Hadn’t he changed Damian’s guardian and primary contact to Bruce after he came back?

  
If he hadn’t changed it would that mean Uncle Clark and Selina are still his secondary contacts?

  
Most importantly what had happened that would’ve set Damian off?

  
~~~

  
Dick left Bludhaven on his motorcycle at eight am the next morning, the traffic between Bludhaven and Gotham could be pretty hectic on a good day. Thankfully there were only a couple of cars and the odd truck on the commute to Gotham.

  
He reached the manor in about an hour and a half and if he was several miles above the speed limit, he was none the wiser. He pulled into the manor and parked his bike off to the side and out of the way. The manor greeted him with a lonely silence, one he hadn’t missed. 

  
He made his way over to the kitchen where Alfred was most likely to probably baking something for morning tea if there was anyone home at the moment. He poked his head in and to his surprise found it-empty, although it was a Tuesday and that was generally when he did the grocery shopping; though he was hoping to catch a glimpse of him before he left.

  
His next point of contact was to check the cave to find his problem child. Unfortunately, that endeavour down to the cave was left unfruitful as the boy wasn’t there either, he then went to check Damian’s sanctuary; his room. He strolled up the various staircases and through halls head tread through thousands of times before, reminiscing about his time growing up in the manor.

  
When he first came to the manor, he acted very much like Damian had, angry and upset at everyone and everything. He hated Bruce, he hated Gotham and he hated the world. He was angry until Robin became more than an affectionate nickname from his mother but an outlet for the pent-up frustration and anger, it also helped him rediscover his love to help those whenever he could and the amount of jumping and gliding between buildings helped him stay to his acrobatic roots.

  
He knocked on Damian’s door but there was no answer, he knocked again and called his name just in case the boy had his headphones on blocking out the world like he often did. He waited for a reply, when he got none, he took this as an opportunity to enter; the room was empty but kept clean with minimal decorations other than the odd framed photo on the boy’s desk. The bed was made and properly done with military-like precision that could have only done by one individual.  
He should have paid attention to the fact that Titus was nowhere to be found within the manor bounding around. Where Damian went Titus went attached to the hip since day one, he did catch a glimpse of Alfred the cat in the library. He dares not worry about the wellbeing of Bat cow and Drake most likely in the back of the manor grazing and swimming in the pond respectively.

  
He shot the boy in question a quick text announcing that if he wasn’t going to come and see him until he had to that they were to meet in the garage at ten sharp and no later so they could arrive at the school on time. Seeing as there was no one to greet he went back down to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee with the storm that was most likely brewing he would need the extra caffeine hit.

  
He thought about knocking on Tim’s door, but the boy was either crashed out completely having just fallen asleep, or was over at the Young Justice headquarters probably playing games with Connor and dishing out on Doritos and Mountain Dew. If he was at the latter, Dick was happy for him to surround himself with people other than the family and to act as any seventeen-year-old boy should.

  
~~~

  
At ten sharp Dick was standing in the garage waiting for Damian who had just strolled into the garage as if they weren’t about to go to school and discuss his suspension.

  
“Richard, I hope you are well.” Damian acknowledged with a slight tilt of his head as if they weren’t about to go to his school to discuss his suspension. 

  
“Hey little D, the usual with me. Now let’s get this show on the move so we can make it there in time.” He replied and held out the motorcycle helmet to the boy.

  
Confusion crossed Damian’s face for a split second before his usual stoic look returned to his features. “Let’s,” he said taking the helmet before placing it on his head and walking over to Dick’s bike ready to leave. He followed his brother and hopped on, Damian hopping on behind him wrapping his arms around his waist holding on. Dick adjusted the boy's grip on his jacket more securely before kicking the stand up and speeding off to Gotham Academy.  
They pulled up to the school with five minutes to spare.

  
Parking the bike and taking off their helmets they walked into the school, hallways for the most part were exactly how Dick remembered them; depressing and Gothic except for the odd pops of colour with a poster advertising various activities and rules. They opened the doors to the administration office.

  
“Good Morning, how can I help you?” The admin assistant asked

“How are you? I’m here for a meeting with the deputy about Damian’s suspension.” He replies to her flashing a smile.

  
“Ahh yes Mr. Grayson no worries, I’ll let them know you are here.” She said before calling the deputy on the phone.

  
Dick sat down next to Damian on the little couch in the corner, Damian was tense and on edge. He was probably wondering why Dick hadn’t yelled at him or asked him about it, and honestly, Dick was willing to give Damian the benefit of the doubt before he made any assumptions. His behaviour had vastly improved since he first started attending the academy, so he wanted to hear what happened before pointing fingers and potentially ruined Damian’s trust in him.

  
“Ahh Mr. Grayson and Damian, thank you for coming today.” Miss Martinez greeted them with a forced smile plastered on her face.

  
“It’s no worries, anything about Damian is important.” He said getting up to follow her into the meeting, he nudged Damian with his foot he got up to follow, albeit begrudgingly.

  
They followed the curly-haired women into an office, where they were greeted by a woman presumably in her fifties sitting behind a desk with a couple of papers in front of her.

  
“Mr. Grayson lovely to meet you I’m Mrs. Green the deputy, I’m sure you have been informed as to why I requested a meeting with you today?” She said her tone nothing but professional but the undertones with something Dick couldn’t quite put his finger on.

  
“From my understanding, there was a fight.” He replied to her sitting up straighter in his chair. Damian grumbled under his breath, Dick nudged him with his foot to stop or potentially make things worse.

  
“Yes, from what we also understand there was a small argument that leads to Damian punching

Jacob in the face. Would you care to explain Mr. Wayne?” She explained before looking at Damian quirking an eyebrow. I looked at Damian to see the anger in his green eyes.

“Dames, what happened?” Dick asked him softly, he didn’t want to push him and set him off.

“Jacob taunted me and after I asked him to stop, he kept provoking me and I punched him.” He stated his tone was neutral but the hurt that flashed in his eyes revealed to me what had happened. 

They left the meeting about fifteen minutes later after going over the standard procedures necessary for an external suspension and Damian signed a form stating he understood what was to happen if this occurred next time. The meeting made Dick upset not at Damian’s behaviour but the behaviour of the other child in question, it was as if he was back in time when he was first taken in by Bruce the other kids were relentless with their teasing and he out of the all of Bruce Wayne’s ‘children’ probably had the worst behavioural record to prove it.

Much to his surprise, a mop of black hair came bounding up to them like an energetic puppy.

“Damian, I heard about the fight, are you okay?” The sweet voice of Jon Kent asked.

“I am fine Kent do not be concerned.” Damian sneered in reply, not happy with the attention this whole debacle has garnered.

“Hey, bud!” Dick greeted the young boy enthusiastically crouching down to his height.

“Hi, Dick! You should come and visit, Mom and Dad said you could come over for dinner anytime and we can play ball!” Jon chirped hugging Dick with a squeeze a little too strong for someone his age but having superhuman strength has its perks.

“Only if your Mom is going to be making apple pie.” He laughed ruffling Jon’s hair.

“I have to go back and finish my lunch now, bye guys.” He bounded away back to the cafeteria possessing speed that could rival Barry Allen himself.

Back at the manor was when Dick finally confronted Damian about the incident. They were in the boys’ room; Dick had taken a seat on the desk chair resting his chin on the back.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened Dames?” He asked staring at the boy who had perched himself on his bed with a sketchbook in hand scratching away at the pages with the stick of charcoal.

“I told you what had happened.” He said bluntly his focus never wavering from the work in front of him.

“And I think there is something more to the situation, something to do with how you look, or how you speak or where you come from or even your parents.” Dick prodded noticing the boy flinch when he mentioned parents. 

“I noticed the poster advertising a Mother’s Day stall on Friday.” He added the boy froze at the word Mother, the charcoal in his hand dropping onto the sketchbook and he clenched his eyes shut and his cheeks took on a rosier hue. 

“Is this about your Mom, Dami?” Dick got up out of his seat immediately and rushed to the boys’ side, sitting down next to him and taking him into his arms.

“He insulted her as if she was some no-good harlot and he said I shouldn’t be doing the Mother’s Day activity as she left me here like she didn’t want me.” He recalled his voice wavering towards the end.

“Richard, did my Mother want me?” Tears streamed from Damian’s deep green eyes, the boy buried his face in his chest and wrapped his arms around his middle; all but climbing into his lap. Dick immediately wrapped his arms around the boy, burying his face in his soft hair whispering words of comfort.

The hurt in his voice and the tears made Damian seem like the twelve-year-old boy he truly was, not the perfect soldier Talia had created him to be.

“Talia is no way in the running for winning Mother of the year, but kiddo of course she wanted you in her own way.” He comforted the boy rocking him side to side.

“And if she didn’t well you know what? I want you and that’s all that matters right? He added with a slight chuckle to try and lighten up the move, he had been the boy’s guardian for a year and by what the school records show is still his guardian.

“Do you really mean it?” Damian sniffled his voice muffled by the fabric of Dick’s shirt.

“Of course, I do. I would tear apart the entire universe for you kiddo. I love you.” He said grabbing Damian’s face in his hands and caressing his soft cheeks with his thumbs wiping away his tears.

“I love you too,” Damian whispered.

Dick pulled the boy on top of him as he leaned with his back resting on the headboard of the bed, the boy immediately wiggled around making himself comfortable in his brother’s hold.

“My first Mother’s Day in Gotham I had a kid pick on me too for making a card for my  _ Daj  _ saying I shouldn’t make one because she’s dead.” He sighed recalling the memory.

“I also punched him in the face, I was so angry. But after I punched him, I ran all the way to the school auditorium and climbed up into the catwalk and cried until Bruce found me. Apparently, the teachers couldn’t find me and had to call Bruce in.”

“I know they didn’t want to look for me, but then upon that catwalk B told me about his first Mother’s Day after his parents had died and I know Jason definitely punched some kid out too.” He added on noticing the room had gotten quieter and that Damian’s breathing was less sporadic, he twisted his head to get a look at the boys’ face.

His chubby cheeks pushed up against his eyes almost covering them, both of his hands had his shirt bunched in them. His breathing was calm and peaceful, Dick wiped away any remaining tears from his cheeks.

“I love you Damian and you are so very important to me. Don’t let people tell you otherwise.” He whispered as if the slumbering boy would somehow hear his words. He patted his back like one would do as if they were putting a baby to sleep. Hopefully, this comfort would resonate with the boy when he woke up, and that his words of assurance would always give the boy reassurance whenever he needed it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank You so much for your love and support!!!  
> Please drop a kudos or comment down below if you would like to see something else from me!  
> Or better yet shoot me a message on tumblr at michellemaqqie if you have any other thoughts or would like me to expand even more on this little universe.  
> Thank You so much for Reading!!


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